The European Union and the African, Pacific and Caribbean (ACP) countries are "partners not combatants" on the issue of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said this week.
The Commissioner was forced on to the defensive following harsh criticisms of the free trade accords in recent weeks.
ACP heads of state, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and left-wing MEPs have all claimed in recent weeks that the development aims of the EPAs are being lost, and that the EU is trying to open unready ACP markets to world trade (see AE2229, 13.10.06, EP/3).
But in an address to the European Parliament on Thursday, Mandelson denied ...